Origin Story #14.2 of 21:

In the center of the garden (Gn 2:9 & 3:3)

The Woman got it right: “You may freely eat …but not of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, or you shall die”. The edges are boundless—explore and enjoy, rollick about God’s good and beautiful creation. God has set the boundary, not out there, but in the midst of the garden—in the midst of us.

The big universe out there is not the problem. The problem of good and evil enters from the center—from the midst of the garden, from the midst of us. We know this. As much as we try to blame something or someone out there; the line that divides good and evil runs through the midst of us—through the middle of me.

After breaking the boundary that God placed in the center, humanity itself unravels form its own center. We can no longer see the other as simply, only and completely God’s gracious gift. There’s always complications. Something in the center of life has been lost. We have become our own person making our own decisions about our Creator and his creation. We have claimed the center for ourselves. And in this human center, we find ourselves alone—alienated from others, from our Creator, and from creation itself. Our center dies.

It is direr. But, we know the story from this side of Calvary. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is not the only tree planted in the midst of the Garden. God choose to plant another tree in the center—the tree of life.